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BCC Minutes 09/23/1998 E (Hurricane Georges) EMERGENCY MEETING OF THE BOARD OF COUNTY COHMISSIONERS Naples, Florida, September 23, 1998 LET IT BE REHEHBERED, that the Board of County Commissioners, in and for the County of Collier, and also acting as the Board of Zoning Appeals and as the governing board(s) of such special districts as have been created according to law and having conducted business herein, met on this date at 4:45 p.m. in EMERGENCY SESSION in Building "F" of the Government Complex, East Naples, Florida, with the following members present: CHAIRPERSON: Barbara B. Berry Pamela S. Hac'Kie John C. Norris Timothy J. Constantine Timothy L. Hancock ALSO PRESENT: Ken Pineau, Director, Emergency Management RESOLUTION 98-399 PROCLAIMING A STATE OF LOCAL EMERGENCY WITH REGARDS TO HURRICANE GEORGES - ADOPTED CHAIRPERSON BERRY: I'd like to call to order this special meeting of the Collier County Board of Commissioners, and at this time I'd like to turn the meeting over to Mr. Ken Pineau from our emergency services area. MR. PINEAU: Thank you very much, Commissioner. We have before you a recommendation for a state of local emergency concerning Hurricane Georges, which is -- right now it looks like it's about 600 miles to the southeast of us, but it's moving through the eastern tip of Cuba at the present time, and all the indications look like they'll come pretty close to the Collier County area during the day on Friday. We have taken some initial preparedness actions. We were planning on opening up special needs shelters for the people who are registered with us in our special needs directory. Special needs shelters will be opening up at 8:00 tomorrow morning. This will give us about 10 hours to evacuate those folks from the -- from primarily trailer parks, mobile home parks, and folks living in the vulnerable zone. This will be from Chokoloskee Island south of U.S. 41 all the way over to East Naples, including the City of Naples south of Fifth Avenue South. Because this is where we think that, if the present trajectory is correct, we could get a significant amount of storm surge in that area. We're looking for hurricane force winds; that's one of the reasons why we're recommending to evacuate mobile home residents throughout the entire county, because we're not sure where the maximum wind fields are going to be. The general population, we're recommending a mandatory evacuation beginning at 2:00 tomorrow afternoon, and this would give us about seven hours of clearance time to get folks into either with friends or relatives or hotel/motels, or into our storm shelters within the community. At the present time, we're going to open up five general shelters; Barton Collier High School will be considered a general shelter, as well as a special needs shelter, and the Immokalee Health Department building will be another additional special needs shelter for the folks living in Immokalee and Everglades City. So this is the situation right now. We'll go through a brief overview. You can see from the 11:00 that -- this is a global view of the Atlantic and Caribbean basin, but we just found out that there's another tropical system now north of Bermuda. That shouldn't have any effect on us right now. The biggest feature right now is Hurricane Georges. We have John and Ivan out there. It's promised you a very active season; I think we're getting that way right now. This is the way it looked at 11:00 this morning. It was in the windward passage between the eastern tip of Haiti and the western '- I'm sorry, the western tip of Haiti and the eastern tip of Cuba. It looks like it's moving on shore at the present time. It looks like it's starting to get pretty ragged also. The maximum winds at 11:00 and 2:00 were still 75 miles an hour. Some reduction in maximum winds are expected, as long as it stays over the land mass of eastern Cuba during the night tonight, but we're looking for some intensification as well, as it gets out into the warm Gulf stream waters during the day tomorrow and on into Friday morning. This is the track at 11:00. We'll probably have the 5:00 position in as we speak. But it's going to come pretty close to the greater Naples area. We're looking for probably in the neighborhood of 40 to 50 miles offshore at the present time. And this is the average error that we're looking at. So it's -- I think we really have to be cautious on this, because we have a lot of people at risk at the present time, and that is one of the reasons why we're -- we'd like to meet with you this evening. This is the forecast models. This was based on the 1200 Greenwich meantime wind models this morning. And you can see most of the models now put it into the Gulf. We hope that the majority of the models push it even a little bit further to the west, which would make it better for us. But we're trying to err on the side of safety at the present time. And this is the wind field at 2:00 p.m. In fact, the storm looked like it took a little jog to the west/southwest, but that might be just an initial wobble. We're still going to have to continue to monitor that, though, throughout the night. But I think the decision has to be made now on what we're going to be doing for the day tomorrow. Any questions, commissioners? CHAIRPERSON BERRY: Commissioner Hac'Kie, any questions? COHMISSIONER HAC'KIE: No, not right now. CHAIRPERSON BERRY: Commissioner Norris? COHMISSIONER NORRIS: No. CHAIRPERSON BERRY: Commissioner Constantine? COHMISSIONER CONSTANTINE: No. COHMISSIONER HAC'KIE: Could you put the models lines back up while we're just looking? CHAIRPERSON BERRY: Commissioner Hancock? COHMISSIONER HANCOCK: No. I've been here the better part of the day and have met with Mr. Pineau separately, so I've got all of my questions answered. CHAIRPERSON BERRY: Okay. At this time, Mr. Fernandez, do we need to adopt a resolution? MR. FERNANDEZ: Yes, Madam Chairman. It would be our recommendation that you consider the resolution proclaiming -- declaring a voluntary evacuation and designating certain shelters that may be opened, and authorizing the county administrator to determine employees' work schedule and declaring unlawful to charge more than average retail price for any merchandise, goods sold during the emergency. Essentially this declares the emergency and sets into place the necessary flexibility and authority for us to conduct the necessary activities to protect the community. COHMISSIONER HAC'KIE: So moved. CHAIRPERSON BERRY: Okay. COHMISSIONER CONSTANTINE: Second with a question. CHAIRPERSON BERRY: We have two drafts in front of us, and I believe the second draft is a little more encompassing in language. Is that correct, Mr. Weigel? MR. WEIGEL: That is correct, yes. MR. FERNANDEZ: Madam Chairman, Mr. Weigel has prepared two different drafts of this resolution. We've discussed it briefly. I concur with him in the preference of draft number two, as it's labeled, which is a little more explicit on the second page in terms of the authorities authorized under Chapter 252, Florida Statutes. COHMISSIONER HAC'KIE: So my motion is for the resolution draft number two. COHMISSIONER NORRIS: Second. CHAIRPERSON BERRY: Okay, Commissioner Constantine, did you have a question? COHMISSIONER CONSTANTINE: Yeah, on the portion you mentioned there that hopefully we don't have to deal with anyway, but price gouging, and this prohibits that, should that be occurring out there, what and how do we deal with that? MR. WEIGEL: Okay, I'm happy to respond. That's placed in the resolution more for informational purposes at this current weather event because it is the law anyway, pursuant to our county ordinance. So a violation of an ordinance is subject to code enforcement or enforcement as a misdemeanor. COHMISSIONER HAC'KIE: So you'd call the sheriff. CHAIRPERSON BERRY: Okay. Is it necessary, Mr. Weigel, to read this into the record, or by just simply placing this copy into the record is sufficient? MR. WEIGEL: There's no requirement to read any part of this, unless you believe that using this form, it's an opportune time to read it so people understand it in its entirety. CHAIRPERSON BERRY: Okay, we can certainly do it. COHMISSIONER HAC'KIE: Can we read it, somebody? CHAIRPERSON BERRY: I'll be happy to read it. COHMISSIONER HAC'KIE: Oh, good. CHAIRPERSON BERRY: I can read. COHMISSIONER HAC'KIE: We knew that. CHAIRPERSON BERRY: This is resolution number 98. Whereas, the National Tropical Storm Center has recognized the danger to coastal residents of Southwest Florida from Hurricane Georges by posting a hurricane watch for Collier County; and Whereas, Hurricane Georges has the potential for causing extensive damage to public utilities, public buildings, public communication systems, public streets and roads, public drainage systems, commercial and residential buildings and areas; and Whereas, Chapter 252.38(3)(a)(5), Florida Statutes, provides authority for a political subdivision such as Collier County to declare a state of local emergency and to waive certain procedures and formalities otherwise required of political subdivisions by law. Now, therefore, be it proclaimed and resolved by the Board of County Commissioners of Collier County, Florida, in special session this 23rd day of September, 1998, that Hurricane Georges poses a serious threat to the lives and property of residents of Collier County, and that a state of local emergency be and is hereby declared, effective immediately for all territory within the legal boundaries of Collier County, including, that all incorporated and unincorporated areas shall be embraced by the provisions of this resolution. Be it further proclaimed and resolved that: Number one, evacuation is on a voluntary basis only; number two, shelters designated as Barton Collier High School, Oak Ridge Middle School, Golden Gate Middle School, Gulf Coast High School and Immokalee High School. Additional shelters may be opened as deemed necessary by the Emergency Management Department; number three, the work schedule of county employees will be left to the discretion of the county administrator. Be it further proclaimed and resolved that the state of local emergency declared herein shall automatically expire after seven days pursuant to Section 252.38(3)(a)(5), Florida Statutes, unless otherwise extended by the Board of County Commissioners. Be it further proclaimed and resolved that pursuant to Collier County ordinance number 84-37, it shall be unlawful and an offense against Collier County for any person, firm or corporation operating within the county to charge more than the normal average retail price for any merchandise, goods or services sold during the emergency. The average retail price as used herein is defined to be that price at which similar merchandise, goods or services were being sold during the 90 days immediately preceding the emergency or at a markup which is a larger percentage over wholesale cost than was being added to wholesale cost prior to the emergency. Be it further proclaimed and resolved that in accordance with Chapter 252.38(3)(a)(5), Florida Statutes, Collier County government waives the procedures and formalities otherwise required of political subdivisions by law pertaining to: Number one, the performance of public work and taking whatever prudent action is necessary to ensure the health, safety and welfare of the community; number two, entering into contracts; number three, incurring obligations; number four, employment of permanent and temporary workers; number five, utilization of volunteer workers; number six, rental of equipment; number seven, acquisition and distribution, with or without compensation, of supplies, materials and facilities; and number eight, appropriation and expenditure of public funds. This resolution adopted after second and majority vote favoring the same. Board of County Commissioners, Collier County, Florida, Barbara B. Berry, Chairman. I'd like to move this resolution. COHMISSIONER NORRIS: I think it already has. CHAIRPERSON BERRY: It has been moved. And I will sign it and it is in the record. COHMISSIONER CONSTANTINE: It needs to be -- COHMISSIONER HAC'KIE: We need to vote. CHAIRPERSON BERRY: We need to vote. All in favor? Opposed? (No response.) CHAIRPERSON BERRY: Motion carries five-zero. Is there any other business, Mr. Fernandez? MR. FERNANDEZ: No, that's all we have. Thank you, Madam Chairman. CHAIRPERSON BERRY: All right. Then we will conclude this meeting. There being no further business for the good of the County, the meeting was adjourned by order of the Chair at 5:00 p.m. BOARD OF COUNTY COMMISSIONERS BOARD OF ZONING APPEALS/EX OFFICIO GOVERNING BOARD(S) OF SPECIAL DISTRICTS UNDER ITS CONTROL BARBARA B. BERRY, CHAIRPERSON ATTEST: DWIGHT E. BROCK, CLERK These minutes approved by the Board on as presented or as corrected TRANSCRIPT PREPARED ON BEHALF OF GREGORY COURT REPORTING SERVICE, INC., BY CHERIE' R. LEONE, NOTARY PUBLIC